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THE  INTRODUCTION 


OF 


CLASSICAL  METRES  LNTO  ITALIAN  POETRY 


AND   THEIK   DEVELOPMENT 


TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


A   DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED  TO  THE  BOARD  OF  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

OF  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY, 

JUNE,   1898 


BY 


ARTHUR  H.  BAXTER 


iiiiiii 


I 


BALTIMORE 

JOHN    MURPHY    COMPANY 

igoi 


lu  \t^ 


THE  INTRODUCTION 


OF 


CLASSICAL  METRES  INTO  ITALIAN  POETRY 


AND    THEIR    DEVELOPMENT 


TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


A    DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED   TO  THE  BOARD   OF  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

OF  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF   DOCTOR   OF  PHILOSOPHY, 

JUNE,   1898 


BY 


ARTHUR  H.  BAXTER 


•  i '  3  ^ 

1  » >    3 


BALTIMORE 

JOHN  .MURPHY    COMPANY 

igoi 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Title  Page ^ 

o 

Contents ^ 

Prefatory  Note ^ 

List  of  Abbreviations ' 

Introduction ••• 

Part  I.     The  Fifteenth  Century 9 

Summary 12 

Part  II.     The  Sixteenth  Century 13 

Summary 

Part  III.     The  Seventeenth  Century — 

Summary 

Part  IV.     The  Eighteenth  Century — 

Summary 

Niccolo  Tommaseo  and  Arrigo  Boito  (Nineteenth  Century) — 

General  summary  of  the  diflferent  methods  adopted  in  the  imitation  of 

classical  metres  in  Italian  poetry 

Succinct  statement  of  the  successive  attempts,  from  the  Fifteenth  to  the 

Nineteenth  Century,  to  imitate  classical  metres  in  Italian  poetry...       — 
List  of  imitators  of  classical  poems  treated  in  this  Dissertation,  with  their 

dates 

Appendix,  Numbers  I.-XLIX 

List  of  the  contributions  of  modern  authors  to  the  reproduction  of  classical 

metres.     (Appendix  L.) — 

Bibliography 35 

Life 37 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  material  for  this  Dissertation  was  collected  chiefly  in  the 
libraries  of  Florence,  Italy,  and  especially  in  the  Magliabecchiana, 
or  Biblioteca  Nazionale.  The  book  Versi,  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova 
Poesia  Toscana,^  of  which  only  two  copies  exist,  was  sent  to  me 
from  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale  Centrale  Vittorio  Emmauuele  in 
Rome.  Later  it  was  found  that  another  copy  existed  in  Florence. 
Mazzoleni's  Rime  Oneste  was  procured  for  me  by  Loescher  of 
Florence,  who  obtained  it  by  advertising  in  the  press. 


*  Cf.  p.  15  of  this  Dissert. 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS. 


Atanagi,  De  le  Rime :  =  De  le  Rime  di  diversi  nobili  poeti  toscani, 

Venezia,  1565. 
Carducci,  Poesia  Barb. :  =  La  Foesia  Barbara  nei  secoli  XV°  e 

XVI\  Bologna,  1881. 
Carducci,  Odi  Barb. :  =  Le  Odi  Barbare,  Bologna,  1877. 
Carducci,  Lirici :  ^  Lirici  del  Secolo  XVIII. ,  Firenze,  1871. 
Casini,  Forme  Met.:  =  Le  Forme  Metriche  italiane,  Firenze,  1890. 
Crescirabeni,  Vistoria  :  =  L'istoria  della  Volgar  Poesia,  Venezia, 

1731. 
Falconi,  Due  Saggi :  =  Due  Saggi  Critici,  etc.,  Torino-Roma,  1 885. 
Fantoni,  Poesie :  ^=  Poesie  di   Giovanni  Fantoni,  fra  gli  Arcadi 

Labindo,  Italia,  1823. 
Fornaciari,  Dis.  Stor. :  =  Disegno  storico  della  letteratura  italiana, 

etc.,  Firenze,  1894. 
Fraccaroli,   D'una   Teoria :  =  D'una   teoria   razionale  di  metrica 

i  aliana,  Torino,  1887. 
Gaspary,  Storia:  =  Sioria  della  Letteratura  Italiana,  Torino,  1891. 
Giorn.  Stor. :  =  Giornale  Storico. 
Literaturblatt :  =  Liter aturblatt  fur   Germanische   und  romanische 

Philologie,  Heilbronn,  1882. 
Nuova  Antol. :  =  Nuova  Antologia  di  Scienze,  lettere  ed  arti,  Roma. 
Schiller,  Metri  Lirici :  =  I.  Metri  Lirici  di  Orazio,  etc.,  trad,  di  E. 

Martini,  Torino,  1896. 
Stampini,  XIX.  Liriche :  =  Commento  metrico  a  XIX.  Liriche  di 

Orazio,  etc.,  Torino,  1890. 
Stampini,  Odi  Barb,  di  Carducci :  =  Le  Odi  Barbare  di  G.  Car- 
ducci, e  la  3Ietrica  Latina,  Torino,  1881. 
Versi,  et  Regole :  =^  Versi,  ei  Regole  de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana, 

Roma,  1539. 


t.»  e  pT^Nv, 


Ot 


I  ''N'^H^s/Ty  1 


THE  INTRODUCTION  INTO  ITALIAN  POETRY 
OF  CLASSICAL  METRES, 

and  their  development,  up  to  the  middle  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  revival  of  general  interest  in  the  study  of  classical  metres 
in  Italian  poetry  occurred  in  the  year  1877  when  Carducci  pub- 
lished the  Odi  Barhare. 

In  August  of  that  year  Adolfo  Borgognoni  wrote  in  the  Nuova 
Antologia  the  first  article  which  had  till  that  time  appeared,  in  that 
Journal,  on  the  subject  of  classical  metres  in  Italian  poetry.^  Both 
he  and  subsequent  writers  unite  in  saying  that  the  first  writer  who 
attempted  to  introduce  classical  metres  into  Italian  poetry  was  that 
singular  genius,  Leon  Battista  Alberti  (1407-1472),^  whose  efforts, 
however,  found  neither  praisers  nor  imitators. 

Since  Borgognoni  other  scholars  have  spoken  of  Alberti  as  an 
imitator  of  classical  metres. 

iCf.  Nuova  Anlol,  Seconda  Serie,  1877,  Vol.  v.,  fasc.  8,  pp.  917-928. 

'  For  the  date  of  Alberti  cf.  Utoria  della  Letteratura  Italiana,  di  Adolfo  Gaspary, 
etc.,  2  vols.,  Torino,  Loescher,  1891,  p.  175.  Cf.  also  Giornak  Storico,  etc.,  1883, 
1.,  p.  160,  where  there  is  a  reference  to  Giornale  liguslico  di  areheologia,  storia  e 
letteratura.  Anno  IX.,  fasc.  5°.  A.  Neri,  "  La  nascita  di  Leon  Battista  Alberti." 
The  author  supposes  that  Alberti  was  born  in  Genoa  at  the  end  of  1407  or  at  the 
beginning  of  1408,  "da  legame  illegittimo,  sanato  poi  con  le  nozze."  Cf.  ibid., 
1883,  II.,  p.  153.  The  date  of  L.  B.  Alberti's  birth  is  given  here  by  G.  Scipione 
Scipioni  as  1416.  Cf.  ibid.,  1887,  x.  p.  255,  Notice  by  G.  Scipione  Scipioni  of 
Girolamo  Mancini's  Nuovi  documenii  e  notizie  sulta  vita  e  sugli  sa-itti  di  Leon  Battista 
Alberti.  (Estratto  dall'  Arch,  storico  ital.,  serie  iv.,  t.  xix.)  Firenze,  Cellini,  1887 
(8°,  pp.  70).  Cf.  ibid.,  1891,  xvin.  Scipione  Scipioni,  "L'anno  della  nascita 
di  Leon  Battista  Alberti."  Scipioni  supposes  that  Alberti  was  born  in  1406  or 
1407. 

9 


10     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

Domenico  Gnoli,  in  1881,  said  that  at  the  head  of  this  new 
poetical  venture  was  one  of  the  most  famous  men  of  the  Renais- 
sance, Leon  Battista  Alberti,  who  produced  some  hexameters,  and 
an  elegiac  distich  which  from  a  poetical  point  of  view  leave  much 
to  be  desired. 

Casini  in  his  book,  Le  forme  metriche  italiane,  mentions  Alberti 
and  Leonardo  Dati  as  the  inventors  of  this  new  style  of  Italian 
poetry.^ 

Gaspary^  states  that  Alberti 's  verses  were  written  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  competition  for  a  poetical  prize.  The  competition  took 
place  in  Florence  on  the  22d  of  October,  1441,  in  the  cathedral, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Signoria,  the  archbishop,  the  Venetian 
ambassador,  many  prelates  and  a  large  gathering  of  people.  On 
the  same  page  Gaspary  says  that  another  competitor,  namely, 
Leonardo  di  Pietro  Dati,  "the  writer  who  annotated  Palmieri's 
CittcL  di  vita"  was  seized  with  the  idea  of  adapting  ancient  metres 
to  the  Italian  tongue.  This  attempt  can  easily  be  understood  when 
the  enthusiasm  which  was  then  dominant  for  all  classical  subjects 
is  taken  into  consideration.  Dati  wrote  a  part  of  his  poem  in 
hexameters,  and  another  part  in  the  Sapphic  metre.^ 

Alberti  himself  submitted  for  competition  his  dialogue  "  Dell' 
Amicizia,"  that  is,  the  fourth  book  of  his  Famiglia,  and  also  a 
poem  consisting  of  sixteen  Italian  hexameters.  While  these  were 
certainly  the  first  attempts  to  apply  classical  metres  to  Italian 
poetry,  they  were  also  the  least  successful,  and  naturally  so,  since 
they  adhered  too  closely  to  their  models.  "Dati  and  Alberti," 
continues  Gaspary,  "did  practically  nothing  else  but  apply  the 
quantity  of  Latin  words  to  corresponding  Italian  words,  without 
taking  into  account  the  change  of  sounds." 

Thus  they  produced  verses  of  which  the  measure  must  be  sought 
in  another  tongue. 

^  Cf.  Le  forme  metriche  italiane,  notizia  ad  uso  delle  scuole  classiche,  di  Tommaso 
Casini,  2^  edizione,  rifatta  e  migliorata,  Firenze,  G.  C.  Sansoni,  editore,  1890, 
(12°,  pp.  VIII.  -112)  on  p.  91.  Cf.  notice  (2  pp.)  in  Giorn.  Stor.,  1884,  in.,  p. 
285,  Tommaso  Casini,  Notizia  sulle  forme  metriche  italiane,  Firenze,  G.  C.  Sansoni, 
1884  (12°,  pp.  VIII.,  112).  » Cf.  Gaspary,  Storia,  n.,  p.  174. 

'  Cf.  T.  Casini,  op.  cit.,  p.  97.  Casini  also  declares  that  L.  Dati  was  the  first  to 
make  use  of  the  Sapphic  metre  in  Italian. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry,     11 

Fornaciari  in  his  Disegno  Storico  delta  letteratura  italiana^ 
•mentions  this  literary  competition,  and  adds  that  it  was  arranged 
by  the  officers  of  the  "studio  fiorentino"  at  the  instigation  of 
Alberti,  that  the  prize  was  a  crown  of  silver,  and  that  the  subject 
was  to  be  "  True  Friendship  "  (la  vera  amicizia).^ 

Ludovico  Ariosto  (1474-1533)'  should  be  mentioned  here  before 
passing  on  to  discuss  the  spread  of  classical  metres  in  Italian  dur- 
ing the  sixteenth  century,  under  Claudio  Tolomei. 

Ariosto's  poems,  which  form  the  prologues  of  his  two  comedies, 
II  Negromante  and  La  Cassaria  are,  as  Gnoli  states,''  merely  Italian 
hendecasyllabic  lines,  unrhymed,  and  with  a  proparoxyton  at  the 
close  of  each  line.  Gnoli,  however,  praises  Carducci  for  intro- 
ducing these  poems  into  his  collection,  adding  that  Carducci  shows 
thereby  his  intention  of  including  in  the  collection  every  deviation 
which  was  made  in  Italian  metre  with  the  object  of  bringing  such 
metre  closer  to  the  classical  model. 

Gaspary  ^  is  of  the  same  opinion  as  Gnoli  on  this  point,  and  adds 
that  the  unrhymed  hendecasyllabic  line  ending  in  a  proparoxyton, 
a  verse,  therefore,  of  twelve  syllables,  seemed  to  be  the  most  exact 
form  of  reproducing  the  Iambic  trimetre  of  the  ancient  models. 

In  this  imitation  Ariosto  was  followed  by  some  writers,  but 
opposed  by  others,  and  the  metre  was  later  abandoned. 

Like  Ariosto,  Bernardo  Tasso  (1493-1569)^  also  attempted  to 
introduce  some  novelty  into  the  hendecasyllabic  line.^  He  sought 
to  invent  a  form  of  verse  which  should  possess  the  advantages  of 

^  Cf.  Disegno  storico  della  letteratura  ilaliana  dalV  origine  fino  ai  nostri  tempi,  del 
Prof.  Raffaello  Fornaciari,  in  Firenze,  G.  C.  Sansoni,  editore,  1894,— in  8°,  pp.  Vi., 

-390,  on  p.  87. 

2  The  poems  mentioned  of  Albert!  and  Dati  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to 
this  Dissert.,  Nos.  I.  and  II.  They  are  taken  from  La  Poesia  Barbara  nei  secoli 
XV.°  e  XVI°  a  cura  di  Giosug  Carducci,  Bologna,  Nicola  Zanichelli,  1881, 
(8°  pp.  IV.,  476),  on  pp.  3,  4,  17.      Cf.  also  T.  Casini,  op.  cit.,  pp.  92-93. 

*  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  date  (1474-1533)  on  p.  23.  Cf.  also  Gaspary,  Storia, 
^tc,  II.  (part  2),  birth  (1474),  p.  68 ;  death  (1533),  p.  82. 

*  Cf.  Nuova  Antol.,  Seconda  Serie,  1881,  xxviii.,  p.  380.  Cf.  also  Casini,  Forme 
met.,  p.  78,  §  5. 

^  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  ii.,  part  2,  pp.  73-4. 

6  Cf.  Gaspary,  Storia,  ii.,  part  2,  birth  (1493),  p.  192,  death  (4  September,  1509) 
J).  198. 

^  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  il.,  part  2,  p.  135. 


12     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

the  Latin  hexameter,  for  rhymes  recurring  regularly  compel  the 
thought  also  to  act  in  regular  and  therefore  monotonous  periods. 
Tasso  did  not  dare  to  omit  the  rhyme  altogether,  so  he  formed  a 
complicated  system  of  hendecasyllabic  lines  which  were  connected 
by  rhyme  only  in  every  fifth  line,     (abcbad  ecfedghp 

•    •    •     J    •    •    ■ 

In  this  metre  he  wrote  only  the  '*  Epitalamio  per  il  duca  Federigo 
di  Mantova,"  and  the  first  of  his  Eclogues,  and  later  the  scheme 
of  the  metre  was  modified,  so  that  the  rhyme  occurred  in  every 
three  verses. 

From  the  selection  of  this  poem,  given  in  the  Appendix,^  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  rhymes  occur  at  intervals  of  from  two  to  five  lines. 
Thus  the  word  "  christalli "  is  rhymed  with  the  fifth  line  beneath 
it,  the  word  "  velo  "  with  the  second  line  below  it,  "  Himeneo  " 
with  the  fifth,  "  giorno "  with  the  fifth,  and  "  sereno  "  w^ith  the 
third  line  beneath  it. 

Bernardo  Tasso  also  wrote  some  fifty  odes  with  lines  shorter  than 
those  of  the  canzone,  and  with  imitations  from  Horace.^  "  L'ode 
oraziana,"  says  Gaspary,^  "  Bernardo  Tasso  la  rende  semplicemente 
per  mezzo  di  strofe  brevi  e  non  divise,  ma  rimate ;  segue  pero  in 
altri  il  suo  modello  romano  .  .  ." 


Summary  of  the  Poems  written  in  imitation  of  Classical- 
Metres  DURING  the  Fifteenth  Century. 

The  introduction  of  classical  metres  into  Italian  poetry  took 
place  in  the  year  1441.  Leon  Battista  Alberti  was  the  first  to 
reproduce  the  hexameter  and  the  elegiac  distich.  Leonardo  Dati 
introduced  an  imitation  of  the  Sapphic  ode  in  the  same  year. 
Ludovico  Ariosto  invented  the  unrhymed  hendecasyllabic  with  a 
final  proparoxyton,  while  Bernardo  Tasso  attempted  to  introduce 
a  new  system  of  hendecasyllabics  in  which  the  rhyme  occurred  a& 
far  apart  as  every  fifth  verse. 

^  Cf.  Appendix,  No.  iii. 

*Cf.  Fornaciari,  op.  cit.,  p.  105. 

'Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  dt.,  II.,  part  2,  p.  135. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     13 

Table  of  Poems  of  the  Fifteenth  Century. 

Instances  of  Elegiac  metre 1 

Hexameters 3 

Hendecasyllabic  verse  ending  with  a  pro- 

paroxyton 2 

Sapphic  ode 1 

Other  metres 1 


THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  a  second  and  more  extensive  attempt 
was  made  to  introduce  classical  metres  into  Italian  verse.  This 
movement  was  at  once  the  most  radical  and  the  most  collective 
attempt  ever  made  in  Italy  to  introduce  a  change  in  literature,  and 
the  movement  extended  to  all  the  literary  men  of  this  country.^ 

The  cause  of  the  origin  of  this  innovation  was  a  feeling  of  oppo- 
sition, or  rivalry,  to  the  school  of  Bembo.  Bembo's  style  was  essen- 
tially one  of  imitation.  Cicero  was  his  model  in  writing  Latin 
prose,  Boccaccio  in  Italian  prose,  and  Petrarca  in  Italian  verse. 
Bembo's  art  was  exclusively  formal,  and  little  or  no  attention  was 
paid  by  him  to  matter  or  content. 

Bembo's  influence  was  very  great,  and  he  was  considered  the 
centre  of  the  literary  stage  of  his  time.^  In  opposition  to  Bembo's 
school  arose  Niccolo  Franco,  beneventano  (1505-1569)/  andCIaudio 
Tolomei,  with  his  imitations  from  classical  meters. 

The  approximate  date  of  Claudio  Tolomei  is  well  established. 
Carducci  gives  it  as  1492-1554.^  Fornacciari  differs  slightly  from 
Carducci,  giving  the  years   1492-1555.^     Claudio  Tolomei  was 

1  Cf.  Gnoli,  in  Nuova  AntoL,  Seconda  Serie,  1881,  xxvni.,  p.  382,  top. 

*  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  part  2,  pp.  63,  67. 

^  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  part  2,  p.  162.  Also  Fornaciari,  op.  cit.,  p.  138. 
Niccolo  Franco  was  one  of  the  poets  who,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  Pietro 
Aretino,  ridiculed  the  School  of  Bembo  for  imitating  Petrarca. 

*  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  33. 

5  Cf.  Fornaciari,  op.  cit.,  p.  105.  Cf.  also  Ad.  Borgognoni,  Nuova  Antol.,  Seconda 
Serie,  1877,  v.,  fasc.  8,  agosto,  p.  917. 


14     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

prominent  in  literary  circles,  and  had  already  instituted  the  Acca- 
demia  della  VirtU.     In  1538  he  founded  in  Rome  the  Accademia 
della  Nuova  Poesia,  a  society  before  which  only  poems  imitated 
from  classical  metres  were  allowed  to  be  read.^ 

Tolomei  and  his  followers  approached  the  subject  of  the  imita- 
tion of  classical  metres  with  greater  insight  than  Leonard!  Dati 
and  Leon  Battista  Alberti  had  done  before  them. 

The  lines  of  their  poems,  says  Gaspary,^  were  to  be  scanned 
according  to  quantity,  yet  not  Latin  but  Italian  quantity.  The 
latter  is  not  always  imaginary,  although  indeed  it  does  not  always 
present  such  marked  differences  that  a  well-defined  metre  can  be 
formed  with  it  as  a  basis. 

Borgognoni  thus  enumerates  the  chief  members  of  the  school 
of  Tolomei.^  "I  principali  seguaci  del  Tolomei  furono,  nel  suo 
secolo,  Luigi  Groto,  Girolamo  Fracastoro,  Dionigi  Atanasi,  Antonio 
Ranieri,  Giulio  Fieri,  Giovanni  Zaccarelli,  Alessandro  Fittolini, 
Fabio  Benvoglienti,  Pier  Paolo  Gualtieri,  e  quel  Trifone  Benzi 

This  list  is,  however,  very  incomplete,  and  I  here  append  the 
names  of  all  the  authors  whose  poems  are  found  in  Versi,  et  Regale 

^  Cf.  Gnoli,  in  Nuova  AntoL,  Seconda  Serie,  1878,  xn.,  p.  693.  Also  Gnoli,  ibid.,. 
1881,  XXVIII.,  p.  379. 

The  question  has  been  raised  whether  Claudio  Tolomei  and  Angelo  Claudio 
Tolomei,  the  author  of  Laudi  delle  donne  bolognesi,  are  one  and  the  same  person. 
Brunei  (v.  877)  is  of  the  opinion  that  they  are  one  and  the  same,  but  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  this  should  be  the  case  for  the  following  reasons :  First,  with  the 
exception  of  Brunet  and  Graesse,  no  other  biographer  records,  among  the  works 
of  Claudio  Tolomei,  the  poem  in  praise  of  the  women  of  Bologna,  published  in 
1514.  Secondly,  Claudio  Tolomei  in  the  year  1514  was  only  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and  we  have  no  other  testimony  that  he  spent  a  part  of  his  youth  in 
Bologna.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  Claudio  Tolomei  and  Angelo  Claudio  Tolomei 
were  two  different  persons,  and  that  the  latter  purposely  denominated  himself 
Angelo  Claudio  in  order  to  be  distinguished  from  his  namesake.  On  the  points 
mentioned  here  cf.  Giorn.  Stor.,  1891,  xvii.,  p.  476. 

^  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  part  2,  p.  136. 

^Cf.  Nuova  AnioL,  Seconda  Serie,  1877,  v.,  p.  918.  I  have  noted  several  in- 
accuracies on  the  part  of  the  author,  or  typographical  errors:  On  p.  918  of  thi& 
article,  Atanasi  for  Atanagi,  Ranieri  for  Renieri,  Giulio  Fieri  for  Vieri,  Zacca- 
relli instead  of  Zuccarelli,  Pittolini  instead  of  Cittolini. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     15 

de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana,^  published  in  Rome  in  1539,  and 
printed  by  Antonio  Blado  d'Asola.^ 


List  of  Names  of  Authors  who  Contributed  to  Versi,  et 
Regole  de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana. 

Page. 

Antonio  Renieri  da  Colle A  to  E  iii^ 

P.  Pavolo  Gualterio  Aretino Eiv-Fv 

Giovanni  Zuccarelli  da  Canapina Fvi-Hiv 

Giulio  Vieri  Senese Hv-Iii 

Alessandro  Cittolini  da  Serravalle lii-Ivi 

Bartolomeo  Paganucci k  i 

Gabriello  Zerbo k  ii 

Giovan  Battista  Alamanni .kiii 

S.  Don  Diego  Sansoval  di  Castro kiii 

Ascanio  Bertini k  vi 

Adriano  Vi ventio k  vii 

Lionardo  Colorabini L 

Christofano  Romei L  i 

Ottavio  Brigidi L  ii 

Carlo  de'  Marchesi L  iii 

Alessandro  Bovio L  iii 

Mario  Zephiro L  iv 

1  Cf.  Versi,  et  regole  de  la  nuova  poesia  toscana,  Rotiiae  M.  D.  xxxix.  On  the  recto 
of  the  last  sheet  is  Avritten  :  In  Roma,  per  Antonio  Blado  d'Asola,  nel  M.  D.  xxxix 
del  mese  d'Otlobre,  in-8°.  The  book  is  dedicated  A  Monsignor  Giovanfrancesco 
Valerio.  This  edition  of  1539  is  very  rare.  Besides  the  copy  in  the  Biblioteca 
Nazionale  in  Florence,  consulted  by  me,  there  is  one  in  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale 
Centrale  Vittorio  Emanuele  at  Rome. 

■^For  information  concerning  the  work  of  Antonio  Blado  in  Foligno  and  in 
Rome,  cf.  Giorn.  Stor.,  1884,  Vol.  i-ii.,  p.  307,  under  II  Bibliofilo  (Bologna),  Anno 
v.,  1884,  No.  1,  M.  Faloci-Pulignani,  "II  tipografo  Antonio  Blado  in  Foligno." 
Ibid.,  1894,  Vol.  xxiii.,  p.  328,  G.  Fun^agalli,  Antonio  Blado,  tipografo  romano 
del  sec. :  xvi.,  Memoria  storico-bibliografica,  Milano,  Hoepli,  1893,  di  pp.  122. 
Cf.  also  Nuova  AntoL,  Terza  Serie,  1893,  XLViii.,  fasc.  22,  p.  355— same  title  as 
above  (Fumagalli,  Antonio  Blado,  etc.),  but  published  by  a  different  editor,— 
Bergamo,  tip.  fratelli  Cattaneo,  1893. 

^  The  letters  and  numbers  to  the  right  of  this  sheet  are  the  page  indications  of 
Versi,  et  Regole,  etc.  There  are  seven  pages  to  each  letter,  and  the  letters  used 
areABCr)EFGHlkLMNOPQRSTV(toV  vii). 


16     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry, 

Page. 

Tommaso  Spica  Romano..* N-N  vii 

Annibale  Caro O-O  i 

Bernardino  Boccarino  d'Arezzo Oii-O  v 

Triphone  Bentio  d'Ascisi O  v-  Pi 

Pavolo  del  Rosso  Fiorentino Pii-Q 

Dionigi  Athanagi  da  Cagli Q  i-S  vii 

Claudio  Tolomei T-V-v 

It  will  easily  be  seen  that  the  principal  contributors  to  this  col- 
lection were  Antonio  Renieri,  Pavolo  Gualterio,  Giovanni  Zucca- 
relli,  Giulio  Vieri,  Alessandro  Cittolini,  Pavolo  del  Rosso,  Dionigi 
Athanagi,  and  Claudio  Tolomei  himself. 

Since  there  appears  to  be  some  doubt  as  to  who  was  the  com- 
piler of  Ve7'si,  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana,  it  will  not 
be  amiss  to  discuss  this  question  here. 

Claudio  Tolomei  is  usually  cited  as  the  compiler  of  this  work. 
Fornaciari^  and  Casini^  would  seem  to  imply  this  fact,  and  Gaspary 
distinctly  states  it,^  asserting  that  the  idea  of  imitating  classical 
metres  originated  with  Tolomei,  and  that  he  published  the  collec- 
tion under  discussion  in  the  year  1539. 

The  fact  also  that  in  the  collection  of  poems  in  question  Tolomei's 
verses  occupy  the  last  position  in  the  book,  would  tend  to  show 
that  Tolomei's  feelings  of  modesty  had  been  considered,  and  would 
point  to  him  as  the  compiler  of  the  book.  The  preface,  however, 
was  written  by  Ser  Cosmo  Pallavicino.* 

In  it  Tolomei  is  mentioned  in  very  laudatory  terms,  notably 
where  Pallavicino  refers  to  the  new  poetry  which  "  il  felice  ingegno 
del  nostro  M.  Claudio  Tolomei  quest'  anno  a  molti  suoi  amici  ha 
mostrato  in  Roma,"  and  this  again  would  lead  us  to  accept  Ser 
Cosmo  Pallavicino  as  the  compiler. 

Borgognoni^  mentions  Cosimo  Pallavicino  as  the  collector, 
"  Cosimo  Pallavicino,  il  quale  raccolse  assai  de'  nuovi  versi  che 
fece  poi  stampare  al  Blado  d'Asola  in  un  volume,  nel  1534.® .  .  . 

^  Cf.  Fornaciari,  op.  cit.,  p.  138.  *Cf.  Casini,  op.  cit.,  p.  91. 

^  Cf.  Gaspary,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  part  2,  p.  136. 

*Cf.  Versi,  et  Regole,  etc.,  title-page;  also  Brunet,  v.,  877. 

5  Cf.  Nuova  Antol.,  Seconda  Serie,  1877,  v.,  p.  918. 

«  The  date  here  should  be  1539. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     17 

Lastly,  Chiarini  ^  declares  that  Cosimo  Pallavicino  was  the  pub- 
lisher. It  is  therefore  a  safe  conclusion  that  although  Claudio 
Tolomei  was  the  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  school 
of  classical  poetry,  the  publication  of  the  poems  of  this  school  was 
for  some  reason  undertaken  by  Ser  Cosimo  Pallavicino,  and  was 
perhaps  supervised  by  Tolomei  himself,  who  placed  his  own  poems 
at  the  end  of  the  collection. 

The  following  table  shows  the  poems  contained  in  the  collection 
of  Versi,  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova  Foesia  Toscana,  together  with  the 
names  of  the  authors  of  the  poems,  and  the  proportion  in  which 
the  various  classical  metres  were  used. 

Vei'si,  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana.     Instances  of 

Elegiac  Distichs. 

Page.                 No.  of  Pieces.                                        Author. 

A  to  C  vi  25  Antonio  Renieri  da  Colle. 

Eiv-Fiii 16  P.  Pavolo  Gualterio  Aretino. 

Fvi-Hi  5  Giovanni  Zuccarelli  di  Canapina. 

Hvii-I  2  Giulio  Vieri  Senese. 

lii-Ivi  3  Alessandro  Cittolini  da  Serravalle. 

Ivii-ki  8  Various  authors. 

ki  1  Bartolomeo  Pagauucci. 

k  ii  1  Gabriello  Zerbo. 

kiii-kv  4  Anonymous. 

k  vi  2  Giovanni  Zuccarelli. 

k  vii  1  Ascanio  Bertini. 

k  vii  2  Adriano  Viventio, 

L-Li 2  Lionardo  Colombini. 

Lii  1  Christofano  Romei. 

Lii  2  Ottaviano  Brigidi. 

Liii  1  Carlo  de' Marchesi. 

L  vii  1  Epigram  trans,  from  Latin  of 

Cotta  Veronese. 

M-Mi  3  "             "        Marc' Antonio 

Casanova. 

Mi  5  "            ■"      ^Navagero. 

^  Cf.  Nuova  AntoL,  Seconda  Serie,  1878,  viii.,  p.  473. 


18     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

Page.  No.  of  Pieces.  Author. 

M  ii  1   Epigram  trans,  from  Latin  of  Marc' 

Antonio  Flamminio» 

Mii-Mv  10  "  "        Sannazzaro. 

Mvi-N     6  "  "       Statio  Romano. 

N  1    "  "       Cingolo. 

N-Niv      19  Translations  from  the  Classics. 

Nv-Nvii 4  Tommaso  Spica,  Eomano. 

O-Oi        2  Annibale  Caro. 

Oii-Oiii  3  Bernardino  Boccarino  d'Arezzo. 

Ov-Pi     7  Triphone  Bentio  d'Ascisi. 

Pii-Q       5  Pavolo  del  Rosso,  Fiorentino. 

Qi-Svi     15  Dionigi  Athanagi  da  Cagli. 

T-Viv      11   Claudio  Tolomei. 

Total  number  of  instances  of  poems  in  the  Elegiac  metre  :=  169. 

Instances  of  Hexameters. 

Dv  Antonio  Renieri  da  Colle. 

E  "  a  u 

H  ii  Giovanni  Zuccarelli  da  Canapina» 

Hv  Giulio  Vieri,  Senese. 

Total  number  of  instances  of  poems  written  in  hexameters  =  4. 

Instances  of  Hendecasyllabics. 

Ev  P.  Pavolo  Gualterio,  Aretino. 

L  vi  Anonymous. 

M  vi  Translated  from  Sannazzaro. 

O  iv  Bernardino  Boccarino  d'Arezzo. 

Q  i  ...Dionigi  Athanagi  da  Cagli. 

R  "  "  « 

S 


Vll 


u  ii  a 


Total  number  of  instances  of  poems  written  in  hendecasyllabic 

verses  =  7. 

Instances  of  Other  Metres. 

Cvi-Div 6  Antonio  Renieri  da  Colle. 

F  iv  P.  Pavolo  Gualterio  Aretino. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     1& 

Page.  No.  of  Pieces.                                        Author. 

L  iii  Alessandro  Bovio. 

L  iv  Mario  Zephiro. 

Lv  Anonymous. 

Qv  Dionigi  Athanagi  da  Cagli. 

Rv  "  "  " 


Summary  of  the  Contents  of  Versi,  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova 

Poesia  Toscana. 

Total  number  of  odes :=  12 

Total  number  of  poems  in  elegiac  distichs...  =  154 

"             "             "        hexameters =  4 

"             "             "       hendecasyllabics..  :=  7 

Total  number  of  poems  in  the  collection 177 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  table  that  the  elegiac  distich 
was  the  metre  most  generally  used/  no  less  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  poems  out  of  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
being  written  in  that  metre. 

Next  in  order  of  frequency  is  the  hendecasyllabic,  then  the 
hexameter,  of  which  only  four  examples  occur.  Lastly,  there  are 
four  odes  written  in  the  Sapphic  metre,  and  eight  poems  in  various 
metres;  these  poems  will  be  taken  up  later.^ 

In  the  following  pages  I  propose  to  examine  the  contributions 
of  each  separate  author  to  Italian  classical  poetry  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century,  marking  the  introduction  of  new  imitations,  as  they  occur, 
and  reproducing  a  part,  or  the  whole,  of  such  poems  as  represent 
the  first  appearance  of  a  new  metre. 


^  Cf.  Casini,  op  cit.,  p.  94,  ^  3. 

*  From  this  point  in  the  present  monograph  my  references  to  these  poems  will 
be  made  from  Carducci's  Poesia  Barbara  nei  secoli  xv°  e  XVI°,  in  which  collection 
the  poems  of  Yersi^  et  Regole  de  la  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana  are  incorporated  entire. 


20     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

Claudio  Tolomei} 
1492-1554. 

Tolomei  wrote  fourteen  elegiac  poems,  and  one  in  the  hendeca- 
syllabic  metre. 

Many  scholars  prefer  not  to  include  unrhymed  hendecasyllabics 
among  the  Italian  imitations  of  classical  metres,  but  I  shall  do  so 
because  I  consider  that  during  the  sixteenth  century,  when  classical 
poems  were  so  generally  copied,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  un- 
rhymed hendecasyllabics  were  written  with  the  definite  intention 
of  bringing  Italian  poetry  closer  to  its  Latin  model. 

Casini,^  after  mentioning  the  "  endecasillabo  sciolto,"  says  that 
the  first  instance  of  it  occurs  as  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century ; 
but  that  it  found  no  imitators,  and  that  the  writers  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  using  this  metre,  thought  they  were  doing  something 
which  had  never  before  been  attempted. 

The  poem  by  Claudio  Tolomei,  entitled^  "Traduzione  di  un 
Epigramma  di  A.  Navagero,"  beginning,  "  Ecco'l  chiaro  rio,  pien^ 
eccolo  d'acque  soavi,"  *  is  preceded  ^  by  the  following  explana- 
tion : 

"Mandovi  un'  Epigramma  del  Navagero  tradotto  nella  nostra 
nuova  poesia,  accioche  ella  non  dorma  afFatto,  la  qual  sarebbe  molto 
ben  risvegliare ;  perche  vi  giuro,  ch'  ella  non  mi  piacque  mai  tanto, 
ne  mai  mi  parve  tanto  bella,  quanto  fa  hora,"  etc. 

The  poem  by  Claudio  Tolomei  beginning : 


^  Of.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  etc.,  pp.  33-48. 

^  Cf.  Casini  Forme  Met.,  p.  69,  note.  The  poem  mentioned  here  is  the  Mare 
amoroso  (discovered  by  Professor  G.  Grion,  and  attributed  to  Brunetto  Latini),  a 
lyric  poem  composed  of  three  hundred  unrhymed  hendecasyllabics. 

*It  is  my  intention,  in  this  Disserlation,  to  give  reference  to  books  in  which  I 
find  instances  of  classical  poems,  even  if  I  do  not  have  occasion  to  reproduce 
the  poems  themselves.  *Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  48. 

^I  find  this  poem  i'n  Delle  Leliere  di  M.  Claudio  Tolomei,  Libri  vii.,  con  nuova 
aggiunta  ristampati,  et  con  somma  diligenza  da  molti  errori  corretti.  In  Vinegia, 
Presso  Altobello  Salicato,  1572,  in  12°,  Libro  settimo,  p.  273,  Lettera  a  M. 
Alessandro  Cittolini.  The  edition  originally  consulted  by  me  in  Florence  was 
published  by  Gabriel  Giolito  de'  Ferrari,  in  1554. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     21 

"  Te  sola  amo,  et  sempre  sola  amarti  Lisetta  desio  : "  ^  I  find  in 
a  book  of  poems  ^  collected  by  Dionigi  Atanagi. 


Annihale  Caro. 

1507-1566.' 

This  author  wrote  two  poems  in  the  elegiac  metre,  but  did  not 
attempt  any  new  imitations.  Caro's  poems  are  entitled  "Alii 
Academici  della  Nuova  Poesia"  and  "All'  Amore."* 


Antonio  Renieri  da  Colle 
wrote  before  1 539.^ 

Antonio  Renieri  wrote  twenty-five  poems  in  the  elegiac  metre, 
one  of  hendecasyllabic  lines,  two  in  hexameters,  and  five  odes. 

From  these  poems  it  will  be  seen  that  this  author  was  one  of  the 
most  original  and  versatile  writers  of  Tolomei's  school. 

Of  this  author's  odes  I  shall  mention  only  those  which  he  was 
the  first  to  introduce,  and  shall  therefore  not  reproduce  the  Sapphic 
ode,^  having  shown  that  Leonardo  Dati  had  already  written  one 
in  1441.7 

I  shall  first  take  up  the  ode  which  commences : 

"  Temon  le  navi  in  mezzo  I'onde  torbide."  ^ 

Carducci  ®  adds  to  this  ode  the  following  note :  "  In  Versi,  et 
Regole,  etc.,  a.  c.  C.  iiij  r,  in  fronte  dell'  ode  di  Antonio  Eenieri  da 
Colle  intitolata  a  Mess.  Paolo  Gualterio  e  questo  schema : 

• 

^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  48. 

^  Cf.  De  le  Rime  di  diversi  nobili  poeti  toscani,  RaccoUe  da  M  Dionigi  AtanagU 
In  Venetia,  Appresso  Lodovico  Avanzo,  1565,  libro  secondo,  p.  30,  V. 

'  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  49-52. 

*  These  poems  contain  22  and  24  lines  respectively. 

^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  53-83. 

^Ibid.,  p.  76.  This  ode  is  reproduced  by  Borgognoni,  in  Nuova  AntoL,  1877, 
v.,  p.  923,  and  wrongly  attributed  by  him  to  Monsignor  Tolomei. 

'  Cf.  p.  10  of  this  Dissert.  *  Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  iv. 

*Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  436. 


22     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

"  Ode  d'un  membro.     I  versi  son  iambici  di  sei  piedi  iambi,  se 
bene  alle  volte  ne'luoghi  impari  hanno  lo  spondeo ;  e  scandonsi  cosi : 


Temon 

le  na 

vi'n  mez 

zo  I'on 

de  tor 

bide 

b     P 

b    1 

1    1 

b    1 

b    1 

b  b' 

This  is  clearly  an  imitation  of  the  Iambic  trimetre,  called  by 
the  Komans  versus  senarius,  the  most  common  of  Iambic  metres.^ 
Antonio  Renieri  was  the  first  to  attempt  it. 

Antonio  Renieri  first  imitated  the  Asclepiadean  ode.  In  con- 
nection with  Renieri's  ode  which  begins  : 

"  Passa  ogn'  altra  vaga  donna  di  grazia/'  ^ 

Oarducci  reproduces  the  note  ^  which  in  Versi,  et  Regole  precedes 
this  poem  : 

"  Ode  di  tre  membri,  e  al  quarto  si  muta :  e  i  primi  due  versi 
sono  asclepiadei,  che  si  fanno  d'uno  spondeo,  un  dattilo,  una  cesura 
e  due  dattili ;  i  terzi  sono  eroici  ferecrazii,  e  hanno  uno  spondeo, 
un  dattilo  et  un  altro  spondeo ;  i  quarti  son  gliconici,  composti 
d'uno  spondeo  e  due  dattili :  e  si  scandon  cosi  : 


Pass'  ogn' 

altra  va 

ga 

donna  di 

grazia 

Ebel 

tade  ra 

ra 

questo  mio 

bel  sole 

Che  pos 

to'l  nido 

a 

more 

S'ha  nel 

mezzo  de' 

suoi  lumi 

1  1 

1  b  b' 

1 

1  b  b 

1  b  b 

1  1 

1  b  b 

1 

1  b  b 

1  b  b 

1  1 

1  b  b 

1  1 

1  1 

1  b  b 

1  b  b" 

This  poem  is  the  first  instance  of  the  imitation  of  the  Fourth 
Asclepiadean,  and  it  is  evidently  intended  to  follow  closely  its 
Latin  models.^ 

« 

^  The  letters  b  and  I  stand  for  the  words  "  breve,"  "  lunga,"  indicating  the 
quantity  of  the  syllable. 

^  Cf.  F.  Zambaldi,  Elemenli  di  prosodia  e  di  Metrica  Latina,  quinta  edizione, 
Torino,  Ermanno  Loescher,  1890,  in-8°,  pp.  71,  p.  45,  |  7. 

^Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  V. 

*Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  436. 

"  Cf.  Horace,  Carmina,  i.,  5. 
Cf.   Zambaldi,  op.   cit.,  p.   63,   §   4.     Zambaldi  calls  this   metre   the  third 
Asclepiadean. 

Cf.  also :  /  Melri  Lirici  di  Orazio  secondo  i  risultati  della  metrica  moderna,  etc., 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     23 

The  ode  is  mentioned  by  Chiarini/  who  clearly  shows  by  it  how 
defective  were  the  rules  of  prosody  which  guided  Tolomei's  school. 
In  order  to  follow  out  the  metrical  scheme  of  the  ode,  the  words 
"vaga,"  "rara,"  and  "  bel  sole"  would  have  to  be  pronounced 
vaga,  rara,  and  belsole. 

An  examination  of  the  poem  will  immediately  disclose  the  fact 
that  the  quantity  of  the  metre  cannot  be  observed  unless  the 
following  words  be  wrongly  accented  :  "  vaga,"  "  rara,"  "  lumi," 
"  altra,"  "  noi,"  "  viva,"  "  sui,"  "  mai,"  would  have  to  be  accented 
on  the  second  syllable  instead  of  on  the  first,  the  word  "  nido," 
would  be  deprived  of  any  accent,  and  the  words  "  assiduo "  and 
"  anima  "  would  have  to  receive  an  accent  upon  the  last  syllable. 

To  Renieri's  ode  '  Delle  Sue  Fiamme,'  the  first  line  of  which 

reads : 

"  lo  spesso  del  mio  foco  in  mezzo  sento  nascere. 


»  2 


Carducci  adds  ^  the  following  note  taken  from  Versi,  et  Regole  : 

"  Ode  di  due  membri,  et  al  secondo  si  muta.  I  primi  versi  son 
iambici,  come  quelli  Temon  le  navi  in  mezzo  Vonde  torbide;*  i 
secondi  pur  iambici,  e  vanno  sulla  misura  medesima,  ma  hanno 
solamente  quattro  piedi,  e  si  scandon  cosL 

Spesso  un         dilet        to  si         vago." 
11  b 1  b  1  b  1 

This  poem  is  written  in  imitation  of  the  Iambic  metre,  and 
is  composed  of  an  Iambic  trimetre,^  and  an  Iambic  dimetre.^ 
Although  Renieri  states  that  the  second  line  must  be  scanned  like 
the  first  part  of  the  line :  Temon  le  navi,  etc.,  yet  he  here  makes 
the  third  foot  an  Iambic,  as  opposed  to  the  spondee  in  the  third 
foot  of  the  line  Temon  le  navi,  etc.  In  Latin  poetry  the  third  foot 
of  the  Iambic  dimetre  is  usually  spondaic,  and  in  fact  Renieri 

di  E.  Schiller,  traduzione  autorizzata  dalla  2*  edizione  tedesca  di  E.  Martini, 
Seconda  Edizione,  Torino,  Carlo  Clausen,  1896,  in-12°,  pp.  46,  on  p.  32,  §  xv. 
Schiller  here  calls  this  metre  the  Fourth  Asclepiadean. 

»Cf.  Nuova  AntoL,  1878,  Vol.  vni.,  pp.  474-5. 

'  Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  vi. 

3  Of.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  437.  *  Cf.  p.  22  of  this  Dissert. 

5Cf.  Zambaldi,  op.  cit.,  p.  60,  xxiii.,  §  3.     Cf.,  also,  Schiller,  op.  cil.,  p.  20,  I  iv. 

«  Cf.  Zambaldi,  op.  cit.,  p.  49,  xviii.,  ^  15. 


24     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

himself  in  four  of  his  Iambic  dimetre  lines  makes  the  third  foot  a 
spondee.  For  instance,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  Latin 
prosody  which  the  school  of  Tolomei  closely  followed,  the  syllable 
re-e  in  the  sixth  line  is  long  by  elision ;  in  lines  ten  and  sixteen, 
the  syllables  ris-  and  vend-  are  long  by  position,  and  in  line  four- 
teen the  word  puoi  is  long  by  contraction  :  each  of  these  represents 
the  first  syllable  of  the  third  foot,  making  this  foot  a  spondee  in 
spite  of  Renieri's  indication  b  1  (u  -). 

To  E-enieri's  ode  Alia  sua  Donna,  the  first  line  of  which  is  : 

"  Se  li  pianti  che  sovente," 

Carducci  ^  adds  the  following  note,  taken  from  Versi,  et  Regole,  etc. : 

"  Ode  d'un  membro.     I  versi  iambici  anapestici,  di  tre  piedi  et 

una  sillaba ;  e  i  primi  sono  anapesti,  li  altri  due  iambi ;  e  scandonsi 

cosi : 

Se  li  pian         ti  che         soven         te" 
b  b  1  b  1  b  1  1 

This  is  clearly  an  imitation  of  the  Anacreontic  Ionic  metre, 
found  in  Petronius  and  in  the  later  Latin  poets,^  and  is  to  be 
scanned  in  this  manner  : 

(JU  —  U  —  VJ  —  — 

The  following  list  shows  the  contributions  of  the  authors  named, 

to  the  collection  of  Versi,  et  Regole,  etc.     All  these  authors  wrote 

previous  to  the  year  1539  (the  date  of  the  publication  of  Versi, 

et  Regole). 

Elegiac      Hexame-      Hendeca-      Sapphic      Alcaic 
verses.  ters.  syllables.         Odes.         Odes. 

P.  Pavolo  Gualterio 16  ...  1  1 

Giovanni     Ziiccarelli,     da 

Canapina 7  1 

Giulio  Vieri,  Senese 2  1 

Alessandro     Cittolini     da 

Serravalle 3 

Tommaso  Spica,  Romano..  4 
Bernadino   Boccarino,   d'- 

Arezzo 4  ...  1  ...  ... 

1  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  438.       *  Cf.  Zambaldi,  op.  cit.,  p.  58,  xxii.,  §  2. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry,     25 


,     ,  FAeqiac 

Author.  -^ 
verses. 

Trifone  Benzio,  d'Ascisi...  7 
Pavolo    del    Rosso,    Fio- 

reutino 6 

Dionigi  Atanagi,daCagli..  20 

Bartolomeo  Pagauucci 1 

Gabriello    Zerbo 1 

Giovau  Battista  Alaraanni.  1 
Don    Diego    Sansoval    di 

Castro 1 

Padre  Pallavicino 1 

Ascanio  Bertiui 1 

Adriano  Vivenzio ,.      1 

Lionardo  Colombini 1 

Cristofauo  Romei 1 

Ottaviano  Brigidi 1 

Carlo  de'  Marchesi 1 

Alessandro  Bovio 

Mario  Zefiro 1 

Scipioue  Orsino 2 

Anonymous 59 


Bexame-      Hendeca-      Sapphic      Alcaic 
ters.         syllabics.        Odes.        Odes, 


>  •  •  •  « 


The  elegiac  poem  of  six  lines  of  V.  Pavolo  Gualterio,  begin- 
ning : 

"  Tutte  I'humane  cure  troncansi  al  colpo  di  morte, 

Spengonsi  in  morte  tutti  I'umani  lumi,"  ^ 

I  find   in   the   edition  already  mentioned  of  Claudio  Tolomei's 
Letters.^ 

The  lines  occur  in  the  middle  of  the  letter  which  is  addressed 
to  M,  Fabio  Beuvoglienti,  and  are  preceded  by  some  interesting 
remarks  on  the  i>rosody  of  the  sixteenth  century  :  " .  .  .  furono 
alcuni,  che  crederono,  e  dissero,  che  tutta  questa  arte  si  doveva 

'  Carducci  has  corrected  the  two  lines  quoted  above.  In  the  original  they 
read,  '  al  capo  di  morte,"  and  '  spezzans^i  in  morte.'  These  are  evidently  mis- 
prints.    Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  93. 

'  Cf.  p.  20  of  this  Dissert.  The  poem  occurs  in  Book  VII.,  p.  260  of  Delle 
Letlere,  etc. 


26     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

risolvere  in  queste  poche  regolette,  che  voi  udirete.  Tutte  le 
sillabe,  dove  e  I'accento  acuto,  son  longhe.  Tutte  le  sillabe,  che 
son  dinanzi  all'  accento  acuto,  son  brevi,  se  gia  non  v'e  I'addop- 
piamento.  Tutte  le  sillabe  che  son  dopo  I'accento  acuto  son  brevi, 
ancora  che  vi  sia  I'addoppiamento,  e  cosi  volevano,  che  '  tessonsi/ 
'  roraperne,' '  volgerlo/  havesseno  la  sillaba  di  mezzo  breve ;  contra 
de  li  quali  a  bella  posta  il  vostro  gentile  e  ingegnoso  Gualtiero  ^ 
compose  quel  bello  Epigramma,  usandovi  cotale  sillabe  longhe  a 
lor  dispetto." 

The   elegiac   poem,   of  one   hundred   and    ninety-six  lines,  of 
Dionigi  Atanagi,  beginning : 

"  O  saggio,  et  giusto  signor,  c'hor  altra  fiata,"  ^ 

I  find  in  the  edition  already  mentioned  of  Dionigi  Atanagi's  Rime? 
Dionigi  Atanagi  in  his  poem  : 

"  Pastor  famoso  e  colmo  di  gloria,"  ^ 

was  the  first  writer  to  attempt  the  imitation  of  an  Alcaic  ode. 
The  ode,  as  far  as  the  prosody  of  Toiomei's  school  permitted, 
keeps  closely  to  the  Latin  metre.^  The  caesura  after  the  fifth 
syllable  in  the  first  three  lines  is  carefully  observed,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  third  line  of  the  last  verse.  From  the 
standpoint  of  the  imitation  of  classical  metres  on  the  basis  of 
accent  in  modern  Italian,  it  would  be  hard  to  accept  "con  Roma,"^ 
or  "crini  sa,"^  as  a  dactyl,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Atanagi  was  carefully  applying  the  laws  of  Latin  prosody  when 
determining  the  quantity  of  Italian  words. 
The  six  anonymous  elegiac  lines  beginning : 

"Al  lido  di  Baja,  sotto  un  bel  platano,  Amore,"  ^ 

1  Gualterio  is  mentioned  by  Casini,  in  Forme  Met.,  p.  98,  as  the  author  of  a 
Sapphic  ode. 

"^  Of.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  178-183. 

^  Cf.  p.  21  of  this  Dissert.     The  poem  occurs  in  Book  I.,  p.  209. 

*Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  ix.  This  ode  is  reproduced  by  D.  Gnoli 
in  his  article,  "  Vecchie  Odi  Barbare  e  traduttori  d'Orazio,"  in  Nuova  AnloL, 
1878,  Vol.  XII.,  p.  695. 

5  Cf.  Schiller,  op.  cit.,  p.  39,  xix.    Also,  Zambaldi,  op.  dt.,  p.  64,  §  7. 

6  Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  ix.,  verse  1 ,  line  4. 

'  Cf.  ibid.,  verse  5,  line  4.  ^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  260. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     27 

I  find  in  the  work  mentioned  by  Carducci,  of  which  a  fuller 
reference  is  given  below  ^  than  that  supplied  by  him.  These  six 
lines  are  preceded  by  the  following  statement :  "  Paraphrase  from 
the  poem  '  De  Amore  et  Bajis/  di  Niccold  Conte  d'Arco,  qui  nel 
Libro  III.  delle  sue  poesie  segnato  del  N.  xxxvii.,  fatta  da  M. 
Stazio  Romano,  ed  esistente  a  carte  M.  iiij  del  libro  intitolato : 
Versi,  e  Regole  della  Nuova  Poesia  Toscana,  stampato  in  Roma 
per  Antonio  Blado  d'Asola,  1539,  in-4°." 

This  would  seem  to  show  that  in  the  year  1739  Niccol6  Conte 
d'Arco  was  regarded  as  the  author  of  the  paraphrase  from  Stazio 
Romano :  "Al  lido  di  Baja,"  etc.  The  evidence  adduced  here  is 
by  no  means  final,  and  Carducci  who  probably  derived  this  poem 
directly  from  Versi,  et  Regole,  etc.,  prefers  to  attribute  it,  not  to 
Niccolo  Conte  d'Arco,  but  to  an  anonymous  author. 

The  four  elegiac  lines  by  Triphon  Gabriele,  beginning : 

"  Contento  io  vissi  del  poco  una  picciola  vita,"  ^ 

occur  in  the  Letter e  Facete  of  Dionigi  Atanagi.^ 

The  eight  elegiac  lines  by  Girolamo  Fracastoro,  beginning  : 

"  Se  tra  i  pastori  che  fanno  e  Tevere,  ed  Arno,"  * 

I  find  in  the  edition  of  the  Lettere  Facete,  etc.,  already  mentioned,* 
and  also  in  the  work  of  Fracastoro  cited  by  Carducci,  of  which  I 
have  given  the  full  title.^ 

The  poem  by  Apollonio  Filareto,  beginning  : 

"  S'unqua  di  pianto  vaga,"  ^  etc., 

1  Cf.  Hieronymi  Fracastorii  Veronensis,  Adami  Fumani  canonici  Veronensis, 
«t  Nicolai  Archii  Comitis  Carminum  editio  ii.,  2  vol.,  Patavii,  1739  (written 
CI  31  DCC-xxxix.),  Excudebat  Joseph  us  Cominiis,  in-4,  t.  i.,  p.  204. 

^Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  279. 

'  Cf .  Lettere  facete,  et  piacevoli,  di  diversi  grandi  huomini,  et  grandi  ingegni,  senile 
sopra  diverse  materie,  Kaccolte  per  M.  Dionigi  Atanagi,  Col  Privilegio.  In 
Venetia.     Appresso  Fabio  &  Agostino  Zopini,  fratelli,  1582,  on  p.  330. 

*Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  283. 

^The  lines  in  question  occur  on  p.  330  of  the  Lettere  facete. 

*  Cf.  above.  ''  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  287. 


28     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

I  also  find  in  Atanagi's   collection  De  le  Rime^  mentioned  by 
Carducci. 

Luigi  Alamanni, 
1495-1556.2 

Carducci,  in  keeping  with  bis  intention,  wbich  I  bave  already 
mentioned/  of  introducing  into  bis  collection  of  classical  poems 
all  instances  of  attempts  to  cbange  tbe  ordinary  Italian  metres, 
reproduces  two  poems  taken  from  Luigi  Alamanui's  comedy,  La 
Flora.     Tbe  first  of  tbese  poems  ^  is  tbe  prologue  of  tbe  play. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  state  witb  assurance  wbat  classical 
metre  tbese  lines  are  intended  to  represent.  Witb  reference  ta 
tbis  poem  Gnoli  ^  states  that  in  tbe  imitation  of  classical  poems 
tbere  were  two  scbools  of  writers,  tbe  conservative  and  tbe  radical. 
"The  latter  entirely  neglected  Italian  metrical  fonns,  while  tbe 
former  sought  to  ajiproximate  Italian  metres,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
those  of  Latin,  without,  however,  interfering  witb  such  funda- 
mental laws  of  Italian  versification  as  tbe  number  of  syllables^ 
and  tbe  accentuation  of  certain  fixed  syllables. 

Tbe  sole  aim  of  tbe  radical  school  was  to  imitate  Latin  metres 
at  any  cost.  Thus,  by  tbe  side  of  Ariosto,  who  while  seeking  to 
imitate  Latin  metrical  forms,  remained  faithful  to  Italian  versifi- 
cation,^ we  find  Alamanni,  who  in  bis  comedy  La  Flora  fashions 
tbe  Italian  language  like  wax,  in  seeking  to  imitate  tbe  sounds  of 
Plautus  and  of  Terence." 

Tbe  exact  scansion,  tbe  accents  and  tbe  number  of  syllables 
of  tbe  lines  of  tbe  Prologue  are  all  equally  difficult  to  determine. 
Tbe  lines  consist  indifferently  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  syllables,, 
and  are  all  terminated  by  a  proparoxyton.^ 

^  Cf.  p.  21  of  this  Dissert.  The  poem  here  referred  to  occurs  on  p.  47,  v.  of 
D.  Atanagi's  De  le  Rime. 

«Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  p.  301.  ^Cf.  p.  11  of  this  Dissert. 

*Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert,  No.  x.  Cf.,  also,  Carducci,  Poesia  Barh.^ 
pp.  302-319. 

*Cf.  2\uova  AnioL,  1881,  xxviii.,  p.  380.  Gnoli  reproduces  lines  56-65  of 
this  poem. 

6Cf.  p.  11  of  th\s  Dissert. 

'  The  fifth  scene  of  Act  III.  is  written  in  this  same  metre.  Cf.  Carducci, 
Poesia  Barb.,  p.  318. 


The  Inirodxidion  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     29 

In  the  third  act  Luigi  Alaraanni  attempts  a  still  more  remark- 
able and  equally  unpractical  metre,  and  I  reproduce  nine  of  the 
lines  there  written.^  These  lines  vary  in  length  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  syllables,  and,  as  in  the  Prologue,  they  are  terminated  by 
a  proparoxyton.  Gnoli,  who  reproduces  the  first  fifteen  lines  of 
the  poem,^  has  said  of  this  metre  that  although  it  is  very  original 
in  character,  yet  scholars  have  not  hitherto  been  able  to  see  in  it 
anything  beyond  mere  prose  or  the  "  antipatico  martelliano." 


Benedetto  Varchi, 

1502-1566.' 

Benedetto  Varchi  made  a  translation*  from  Horace,  Carm., 
Book  III.,  Ode  13.  The  ode  written  by  Horace  is  a  fourth 
Asclepiadean.^  Benedetto  Varchi  appears  not  to  have  attempted 
to  follow  closely  his  Latin  model  in  the  matter  of  scansion,  imi- 
tating the  metre  merely  by  writing  three  unrhymed  hendecasyllabics 
and  a  '  settenario '  as  the  fourth  line.^ 


Francesco  Patrizio, 
1529-1597.^ 

Francesco  Patrizio  made  a  fresh  attempt  to  introduce  a  new 
metre  in  his  poem  "  L'Eridano." 

In  the  title  to  the  piece,  Patrizio  calls  this  metre  a  "  nuovo 
verso  heroico."  "  L'Eridano  "  was  published  in  Ferrara  in  1 558. 
A  glance  at  the  construction  of  the  lines  ^  will  show  that  they 
consist  of  thirteen  syllables,  and  are  accented  on  the  fourth,  eighth 

^  Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  xi. 
2  Cf.  Nuova  Anlol,  1881,  xxvm.,  p.  381. 
3Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  321-323. 
*Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  xii. 
*  Cf.  Schiller,  op.  cit.,  p.  32,  §  xv. 

«Cf.  Gaspary,  in  Literalurblalt  fiir  Oermanische  und  Eomanische  Philologie,  Heil- 
bronn,  1882,  Dritter  Jahrgang,  p.  21. 
^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  325-345. 
^Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  xiii. 


30     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

and   twelfth    syllables.     The  verse   is   Iambic  in  character,  and 
should  be  scanned  thus : 

UUU  —  U  —  U  —  U  —  «J  —  u 

Of  this  metre  Gnoli  ^  thinks  that  it  partakes  of  the  nature  of 
the  hendecasyllabic  line,  with  the  addition  of  two  syllables,  which 
can  be  added  at  will,  either  at  the  beginning  or  at  the  end  of  the 
verse.     Thus,  line  ten  may  be  divided  : 

Gli  eter|ni         onor  degli  immortal!  estensi         e|roi. 

The  same  can  be  said  of  lines  four  or  five,  and  indeed  of  any 
line  where  the  first  two  and  the  last  two  syllables  can  be  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  line ;  that  is,  when  they  consist  either  of  two 
monosyllables,  or  of  one  word  of  two  syllables.^  Gnoli  dwells  on 
this  point,  and  holds  that  since  these  two  syllables  cannot  always 
be  detached  from  the  beginning  or  from  the  end  of  the  line,  the 
consciousness  of  the  hendecasyllabic  is  lost  in  a  new  verse,  com- 
plete in  itself,  but  slow,  encumbered  and  heavy. 

Giuseppe  Fraccaroli  mentions  this  attempt  of  Patrizio  and  says^ 
"  that  this  author  did  not  take  quantity,  but  '  harmony '  as  the 
basis  or  measure  of  the  verse,  and  hence  it  is  that  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  line  he  discusses  diapason,  diatessaron  and  diapente, 
and  talks  of  '  voci  alte,  basse,  e  mezzane.'  Athough  such  terms  as 
these  may  be  applied  to  music  it  would  be  difficult  to  discover 
their  connection  with  poetry."  Fraccaroli  agrees  with  Gnoli  in 
stating  that  "  the  line,  as  imagined  by  Patrizio,  is  a  hendeca- 
syllabic, with  a  prevalence  of  pure  Iambic  feet,  and  with  the 
addition  of  a  bisyllabic  foot  at  the  beginning  of  the  line.  The 
difficulty  is  removed  if  a  caesura  or  pause  be  made  after  the  sixth 
syllable : 

^Cf.  Gnoli,  in  Nuova  AnloL,  1881,  xxviii.,  p.  386.     The  lines  cited  are  lines 
10,  and  145-162. 

'  The  following  lines  will  serve  as  an  instance  of  this : 

Line  4,     II  Po  |  gl'illustri  suoi  nipoti  infra  le  |  stelle. 
Line  5,      Por  da  |  te  vide,  o  Apollo ;  priego,  fa'  che  |  strano. 
Line  11,   Pien  di  |  tuo  spirto  senta  ogn'or  il  petto  e  |  I'alma. 

^  Cf.  D'una  leoria  rationale  di  meirica  ilaliana,  di  Giuseppe  Fraccaroli,  Torino, 
Ermanno  Loescher,  1887  (in-6°,  pp.  128),  on  pp.  119-120. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     31 

O  sacro  Apollo,  tii  |  che  prima  in  me  spirasti 
Questo  mio  nuovo  alte-|-ro  canto,  e  voi  ch'intorno, 
etc. 

"  By  so  doing  the  verse  becomes  a  pure  French  Alexandrine 
with  a  somewhat  neglected  caesura.  This  was  probably  not 
Patrizio's  intention  as  regards  the  line,  but  it  is  the  sole  theory 
by  which  the  verse  can  be  made  to  retain  any  of  its  harmony. 
Since,  however,  this  line  is  a  degradation  both  of  the  French  and 
the  Alexandrine  verse,  we  are  forced  to  relegate  this  attempt 
at  the  formation  of  a  line  of  thirteen  syllables  to  a  group  of 
similar  individual  fancies  which  have  not  met  with  success." 
Fraccaroli,  with  reference  to  the  caesura  mentioned  above,  would 
compare  the  line  to  that  used  by  Raimon  of  Avignon  in  his 
translation  of  Roger  de  Parme's  Praetica  Chirurgiae}  Raimon's 
verse  which  is  written  in  Proven9al  consists  of  twelve  syllables, 
and  A.  Thomas  comes  to  the  following  conclusion  with  regard  to 
the  division  of  the  line.^  "  The  verse  is  always  divided  into  two 
unequal  parts  consisting  of  four  and  eight  syllables  by  a  caesura 
upon  the  oxyton  syllable.  The  position  of  this  caesura  is  ad 
libitum,  although  the  arrangement  8  +  4  is  more  frequent  than 
the  inverse  disposition."  Since,  however,  the  verses  of  the 
Provengal  poet  are  invariably  dodecasyllabic  (with  the  exception 
of  some  lines  of  ten  syllables  which  were  interpolated  inten- 
tionally), no  very  close  comparison  can  be  made  b'  tween  them 
and  the  line  of  Francesco  Patrizio,  which  consists  of  thirteen 
syllables.  The  last  syllable  of  Raimon's  line  is  oxyton,  whereas 
Patrizio  terminates  his  verse  with  a  paroxyton. 


^Cf.  Fraccaroli,  op.  cit.,  p.  120,  note  1,  where  he  says  briefly:  "In  this  way 
the  verse  (that  is  Patrizio's)  resembles  that  of  the  Chirurgia  Provenzale  di 
Raimondo  di  Avignon,  and  like  it,  might  he  divided  by  other  caesurae." 
Fraccaroli  then  refers  to  A.  Thomas,  Romania,  x.,  pp.  68-70 ;  xi.,  pp.  203-12. 
A  complete  reference  to  these  two  articles  is  as  follows :  Antoine  Thomas,  "La 
Chirurgie  de  Roger  de  Parme  en  vers  provenfaux,"  Romania,  x.,  pp.  63-74; 
and  p.  456,  for  the  real  name  of  the  translator;  and  "La  Versification  de  la 
Chirurgie  proven9ale  de  Raimon  d' Avignon,"  Romania,  XI.,  p.  202-12. 

*Cf.  Romania,  xi.,  p.  210. 


32     The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry. 

Luigi  Groto  (Cieco  d'Adria), 

1541-1585.^ 

Luigi  Groto  wrote  one  poem  in  the  elegiac  metre.     This  poem 
of  eight  lines  beginning  : 

^Sto  fra  spine  dure  cercando  una  tenera  rosa/ 

I  find  in  an  edition  of  the  work  mentioned  by  Carducci.^  This 
work  contains  one  hundred  and  seventy  pages  of  poems,  mostly  in 
Italian  metres.  In  the  lines  in  question  there  are  slight  altera- 
tions^ in  the  text  as  putJished  in  the  edition  of  Carducci.  These 
eight  elegiac  verses  are  of  interest  not  merely  as  showing  the 
spread  of  the  imitation  of  classical  metres  outside  the  school  of 
Tolomei ;  some  of  the  lines  are  remarkably  well  written,  and  in 
two  cases  especially  ^  (both  of  them  hexameters)  the  word-accent 
agrees  so  exactly  with  the  theses  of  the  Latin  line,  that  they 
might  stand  as  verses  written  by  the  present  school  of  the  imita- 
tion of  classical  metres  by  means  of  word-accent : 

"  Sto  tra  spine  dure  cercando  una  tenera  rosa." 

"  Degna  felice  mano,  che  fior  si  tenero  corre." 

Leonardo  Orlandino  dal  Greco, 

1552-1618.' 

Leonardo   Orlandini   was   a    fairly  prolific  writer   of  classical 
poems.     His  contribution  to  Carducci's  volume  of  Poesia  Barbara 

^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  347-349. 

*The  title  of  the  work  consulted  by  me  at  the  Bib.  Naz.  Fir.  is  as  follows: 

Delle  Rime  \  di  Luigi  \  Grolo  \  Cieco  cTJdria  |  Nuovamente  risiampate  \  e  ricorreiie  | 
dal  medesimo  autore,  )  In  Venetia,  Appresso  Giacomo  Zoppini  &  frat.,  1601,  on 
p.  162. 

'Cf.  line  5,  ed.  of  1601 :  "Rosa,  cui  Magio  mai  non  spese,  ne  d'arse  Decembre, 
Carducci  has  corrected : 

"  Rosa,  cui  maggio  mai  non  spense,  n^  arse  decembre." 

*Cf.  Luigi  Groto,  op.  cit,  p.  162,  lines  1,  7.  For  information  concerning  the 
life  and  writings  of  this  author,  cf.  also  Giorn.  Stor.,  Vol.  vii.,  1886,  p.  275, 
notice  of  Vittorio  Turri's  Luigi  Groto  {II  Oieco  d'Adria),  Lanciano,  tip.  R. 
Carabba,  1885  (8°,  pp.  31).  ^  Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  351-359. 


The  Introduction  of  Classical  Metres  into  Italian  Poetry.     33 

consists  of  sixteen  poems.  Of  these  eight  are  in  the  elegiac  metre, 
one  is  a  hendecasyllabic,  and  four  are  Sapphic  odes. 

Of  the  remaining  poems,  the  lines  to  *  Signor  ....  De  la 
Quadra '  ^  are  the  first  instance  of  the  imitation  in  Italian  of  the 
First  Archilochiau  metre  as  used  by  Horace.^  Orlandini  has 
written  two  poems  in  this  metre. 

The  poem  of  six  lines,  'Al  Candido/  beginning, 

"  Ecco  in  quest'  altare,"  ^ 

is  the  first  instance  of  the  imitation  in  Italian  of  the  First 
Pythiambic  strophe*  as  used  by  Horace. 


Ludovico  Paterno, 
1560-1570.' 

Ludovico  Paterno  did  not  attempt  the  imitation  of  any  new 
metres.  He  wrote  one  Sapphic  ode,  one  poem  of  hendecasylla- 
bic lines,  and  eight  poems  in  hendecasyllabics  with  a  final 
proparoxyton. 

Like  Orlandino,  he  was  a  Sicilian,  and  belonged  to  the  Academy 
of  the  "Accesi." 

With  reference  to  Paterno's  hendecasyllabic  lines  ending  with  a 
proparoxyton,  a  form  of  poetry  which  I  have  already  discussed,® 
Gnoli  remarks,^  "As  for  the  Sicilians,  leaving  epic  and  elegiac 
verses  aside,  they  applied  themselves  to  the  imitation  of  the 
poetry  of  Catullus ;  Paterno  is  especially  successful  in  his  '  titoli 
funebri '  which  resemble  translations  from  the  antique."  Gnoli 
then  quotes  two  poems  ^  of  Ludovico  Paterno. 

^  Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  xiv.  (a). 

''Cf.  Zanibaldi,  op.  cit.,  p.  65,  §  10.     Also  Horace,  Carm.,  iv.,  7. 

*Cf.  Appendix  to  this  Dissert.,  No.  xiv.  (b). 

*Cf.  Zambaldi,  op.  cit.,  p.  60,  ^  4.     Also  Horace,  Epod.,  14,  15. 

^Cf.  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb.,  pp.  361-369. 

«Cf.  p.  11  of  this  Dissert. 

'Cf.  Gnoli,  in  Nuova  AntoL,  1881,  xxviii.,  p.  384. 

^The  poems  cited  in  the  Nuova  AnioL,  loe.  cil.,  are  from  Carducci,  Poesia  Barb., 
pp.  366  and  369,  and  are  entitled  "Al  Tumulo  di  Qumtia,"  and  "Tumulo  di 
Boschino." 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Aldini,  Alberto,  La  Lirica  nel  Chiabrera,  Livorno,  1887, 

Atanagi,  Dionigi,  -De  le  Rime  di  diversi  nobili  poeti  toscani,  Venezia,  1565. 

Carducci,  Giosue,  La  Poesia  Barbara  nei  secoli  XV"  e  XVI°,  Bologna,  1881. 

Le  Odi  Barbare,  Bologna,  1877. 

Lirici  del  secolo  XVIII.,  Firenze,  1871. 

Casini,  Tommaso,  Le  Forme  Metriche  italiane,  Firenze,  1890. 

Cavallottt,  Felice,  Anticaglie,  Koma,  1879. 

Chiabrera,  Gabriello,  Rime  di  Gabriello  Chiabrera,  Milano,  1807. 

Crescimbeni,  Mario,  L'istoria  della  Volgar  Poesta,  Venezia,  1731. 

Falconi,  Ltjigi,  Due  Saggi  Critiei,  etc.,  Torino-Roma,  1885. 

FiLiPPiNO,  Bernardo,  Versi,  e  prose  di  Bernardo  Filippino,  e  d'allri,  Eoma,  1659. 

FoRNACiARi,  Raffaello,  Disegno  siorieo  della  lelteraiura  ilaliana  daW  origine  fine 

at  nostri  tempi,  Firenze,  1894. 
Fraccaroli,  Giuseppe,  D'una  teoria  razionale  di  Metrica  italiana,  Torino,  1887. 
Gaspary,  Adolfo,  Sloria  della  Lelteraiura  Italiana,  Torino,  1891. 
Giornale  Siorieo. 

Liieraiurblait  fiir  Oermanische  und  Romanische  Philologie,  Heilbronn,  1882. 
Mazzoleni,  Rime  Onesie  de'  Migliori  Poeii,  Bassano,  1821. 
Nuova  Aniologia  di  Scienze,  lettere  ed  arti,  Roma. 

RoLLi,  Paolo,  Dei  Poetici  Componimenti  del  Signor  Paolo  Rolli,  Nizza,  1782. 
Romania. 

Schiller,  E.,  Imeiri  Lirici  di  Orazio,  etc.,  trad,  di  E.  Martini,  Torino,  1896. 
SoLERTi,  Angelo,  Manuale  di  Metrica  Classica  italiana  nel  accento  ritmico,  Torino, 

1886. 
Stampini,  Ettore,  Commento  melrico  a  XIX.  Liriche  di  Orazio,  etc.,  Torino,  1890. 

Le  Odi  Barbare  di  G.  Carducci  e  la  Metrica  Latina,  Torino,  1881. 

TiRABOSCHi,  GiROLAMO,  Sioria  della  leiieralura  italiana.  Milano,  1822. 
Tommaseo,  Nicolo,  Poesie  di  Niccolb  Tommaseo,  Firenze,  1872, 
Versi,  ei  Regole  de  la  I\\ova  Poesia  Toscana,  Roma,  1539. 
Zambaldi,  F.,  Elemenii  di  Prosodia  e  di  Metrica  Latina,  Torino,  1886. 


LIFE. 


I  was  born  in  Florence,  Italy,  December  12th,  1871.  From  1881 
to  1887  I  studied  at  Malvern  College,  Worcestershire,  England, 
returning  twice  yearly  to  Italy.  For  three  years  I  held  a  scholar- 
ship of  £80  for  proficiency  in  French.  With  a  view  to  entering  the 
Army,  I  studied  during  1888-1889  in  Tubingen,  Wiirtt,  Germany, 
under  Prof.  J.  G.  C.  Schuler,  of  Tubingen  University. 

During  1890-1891  I  attended  the  "coaching"  establishment  of 
C.  V.  Coates,  Esq.,  M.  A.  (Cam.),  in  London,  and  in  December,  1891, 
passed  on  the  list  of  candidates  successful  for  Infantry  cadetships  at 
the  R.  Mil.  Coll.,  Sandhurst.  Failing  to  pass  the  physical  exami- 
nation, I  returned  to  Italy.  In  October,  1892,  I  entered  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  and  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in 
June,  1894.  In  October,  1894,  I  entered  the  Department  of  Romance 
languages,  taking  Italian  as  my  principal  subject.  I  attended  the 
lectures  of  Prof.  A.  Marshall  Elliott,  Dr.  J.  E.  Matzke  and  Dr.  L. 
E.  Menger. 

To  the  latter  I  wish  to  express  my  gratitude  for  the  interest  which 
he  has  shown  in  my  work,  and  for  the  benefit  which  I  have  derived 
from  his  courses.  As  a  minor  subject  I  took  a  course  under  Prof. 
H.  B.  Adams,  with  great  profit  and  pleasure  to  myself,  and  was 
examined  on  the  "  Renaissance  in  Italy  "  and  on  the  "  History  of  the 
Germanic  Races." 

Returning  to  Europe  during  the  summers  of  1895-6-7,  I  spent 
much  of  this  time  in  Florence,  Italy,  in  the  preparation  of  my  thesis. 
Since  October,  1897,  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  conducting  an  under- 
graduate course  in  Italian. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  to  Prof  Elliott  my  deep 
appreciation  of  the  benefit  which  I  have  received  under  his  broaden- 
ing tuition,  and  my  gratitude  for  his  consideration  and  patience, 
and  his  unvarying  kindness  both  in  the  class-room  and  outside  the 
University. 

Arthur  H.  Baxter. 


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